Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk today hit back at a recent New York Timesarticle that claimed the company's flagship Tesla Model S electric car does not hold a charge very well in cold weather.

Musk took to Twitter this afternoon to say that the Times writer, John M. Broder, was not truthful about the route he took. "NYTimes article about Tesla range in cold is fake. Vehicle logs tell true story that he didn't actually charge to max & took a long detour," Musk tweeted today.

Musk said Tesla only keeps tabs on the whereabouts of its cars with explicit, written customer permission, but those logs are always on for those in the media "after Top Gear BS." Tesla sued the BBC and its Top Gear program in 2011 for libel after the show claimed that the car only got 55 miles on a charge rather than the 200 Tesla promised. That case was dismissed last year, Wired reported.

In the article, Broder test drove the Tesla Model S from the Washington, D.C. suburbs to Connecticut, with the intent of charging at two new stations in Newark, Del., and Milford, Conn. He arrived in Delaware and charged the car without incident, but said the charge estimates started depleting at a rapid pace once he crossed over into New Jersey about 15 miles later. He shut off some power-sucking services - like the heat - but eventually arrived at the Connecticut charging station.

After parking the Model S outside overnight, however, Broder said the charge estimate dropped from 90 miles to 25 miles. He charged for a bit at a nearby utility found by Tesla representatives, but the car eventually ran out of juice on an exit ramp near Branford, Conn., Broder wrote. It was towed to the Milford charging station, where it recharged and was able to return to Manhattan without incident.

Broder quoted Tesla's chief technology officer, J.B. Straubel, who said cold weather could deplete electric charge by about 10 percent, while the heater sucks even more power.

Musk tweeted that "more free East Coast Superchargers coming soon. Will allow lower initial charge, v high speed trip & long detours, like NYTimes drive." He added that he's "not against NYTimes in general. They're usually fair & their own prev Tesla test drive got 300+ miles of range!"

Musk then re-tweeted messages from Tesla owners who had completed long-distance drives with their cars and not encountered the problems reported by Broder. He promised a blog post with more details about Broder's drive shortly (Update: He published it on Feb. 14).

In a statement, the New York Times defended Broder.

"The Times's Feb. 10 article recounting a reporter's test drive in a Tesla Model S was completely factual, describing the trip in detail exactly as it occurred," the company said. "Any suggestion that the account was 'fake' is, of course, flatly untrue. Our reporter followed the instructions he was given in multiple conversations with Tesla personnel. He described the entire drive in the story; there was no unreported detour. And he was never told to plug the car in overnight in cold weather, despite repeated contact with Tesla."

Musk, however, appeared on CNBC's Closing Bell this afternoon and said the Times article "is something of a setup."

"It's pretty unreasonable. I don't want to paint the whole New York Times as being problematic, but I do think that this writer and this particular article is misleading," he continued.

Musk said Broder did not actually charge the car completely, took an "extended detour" through New York City, and drove 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. "When you drive really fast, the range decreases," Musk said.

The hosts of Closing Bell challenged Musk, arguing that the average driver is probably going to drive a bit over the speed limit and possibly take detours, but Musk was not convinced.

"I mean, it's just like if you had a gasoline car. If you only filled the tank up part way and instead of driving to your destination you meandered through downtown Manhattan and through all the traffic and everything and then raced to where you were originally supposed to go and you ran out of gas, people would think you're a fool," he said.

About the Author

Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe covered financial IT for Incisive Media in NYC and technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's deg... See Full Bio

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